1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combination bench and table wherein the bench is fixed but the table may be swung from an upward, horizontal position to a lowered, vertical position to serve as a backrest for the bench.
2. Description of Prior Art
The concept of providing, in a single unit, a piece of furniture which may function as a bench to sit upon and then be converted to an arrangement where the back of the bench becomes a table has been known for some time and patents covering various forms of this concept would include the following: Dostal et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,784; Donnell, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,488; Watts et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,172; Watts et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,990; and Cooper et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,683.
With the advent of advanced plastic molding techniques and the increasing cost of molds for fabricating large plastic items, it has become desirable to minimize the expense of the molds and the plastic utilized in fabricating a furniture item such as the combination bench and table disclosed herein. The prior art referred to above does not take into consideration these factors and thus the present invention distinguishes over the prior art wherein the bench and table/backrest components are not identical nor are the frame members always identical, as contemplated by the present invention.
Yet further, the components of the present combination bench and table are interconnected in such a way that the bench may be readily fixed to the frame members which support it and which rest upon a supporting surface and the backrest/table member may be swingably supported by the frame so that it may be quickly and readily shifted from its vertical position to its position as a table.
These economics in molding of the present unit distinguish it from the prior art teachings referred to above as does the specific structure for fixing the bench to the frame and the structure for holding the backrest/table member in its two positions of use.